Now, we don't know if the New Orleans Express is going to slow down in these playoffs. It sure didn't in the 45-38 Wildcard round win over Detroit. Brees directed an offense that gained a staggering 626 total net yards and averaged a whopping 10.2 yards per pass play and 7.7 yards per offensive play.
The game was everything we thought it would be: a young-and-coming Detroit team with quarterback Matthew Stafford at the helm in the hostile environment of the Louisiana Superdome playing Brees and the battle-experienced Saints, who lost in last year's first round of the playoffs.
Detroit put up a fight. Stafford is a terrific quarterback. Calvin Johnson is a game changer and Nate Burleson and the rest of the receiving corps are dangerous. The Lions are going to be contenders for some time, provided they get a running game to supplement the awesome passing game.
New Orleans, though, is in a different league. Brees has everything going for him. He plays with perfect timing, totally understands every situation and has a deep arsenal of talented players around him. The Saints, the hope is from this perspective, will advance to play Green Bay in an NFC Championship Game showdown that will truly put the best teams in the conference on display.
If that happens, it's going to be hard to think anything other than the lengths the rest of the conference, the Eagles included of course, are going to have to go to get to those teams' levels.
How do you beat teams that put up 30-plus points every week? Maybe that's being conservative with these two teams, because on Saturday night the Saints were absolutely unstoppable except when they stopped themselves.
Isn't defense supposed to win Super Bowls? If you are building a team, do you change the complexion of your team and try to outscore New Orleans, or do you build a defense with cover cornerbacks and a great pass rush to slow down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers?
I wish we had seen the Eagles play against either Green Bay or New Orleans this season. Shame it didn't happen. The Eagles, at their best, are a team that scores a lot of points and that has depth to cover a lot of receivers and a pass rush that can get after a quarterback.
I watch these teams and wonder, "How far away are the Eagles from this level of football?" Sometimes the answer comes back, "Not far. If the Eagles play their best ..." Other teams, especially after such a dominating performance like the Saints had on Saturday night, I wonder if I'm being fair in my assessment.
It starts with Brees and Rodgers and Michael Vick and the play at the quarterback position. This is a really big offseason for Vick, who is going to emerge a better quarterback having had a full spring and summer as the team's starting quarterback. The offense, I think, is right there. The future of DeSean Jackson is a question, yes, but the Eagles have pieces to compete. They have a lot of firepower. They have an offensive line that should be really, really good.
Defensively, the Eagles showed a lot in the final month of the season and they have a foundation on which to build. Fingers crossed here, because I expect the Eagles to add to the defensive side of the ball in the weeks to come.
I guess I'm here late on Saturday night rambling, wondering if the Eagles go into 2012 winning games 24-14 or 49-35? I mean, what kind of NFL are we playing these days? Does the defense lead the way on the path to the Lombardi Trophy any more, and if the game has changed so much, as much as it appears when you watch games like Detroit-New Orleans, does that mean the Eagles need to focus more on the offense than the defense prior to training camp?
In the end, I guess, you build a team that is as good as you can make it on both sides of the ball, plus special teams. Then you go out and win games in the regular season and put your team in position to win in the playoffs. You get a home game in the first round. Better yet, you earn a bye week and rest your starters for a two-game season.
Perhaps it was the way the Saints ran free against Detroit, or the way Stafford's skill impressed me so much, that it became very clear that the NFC is no joke. There are some good teams out there and, with the way New Orleans and Green Bay are playing, great teams standing in the Eagles' way.
At the end here, as I step back, the nagging question is: Has the game shifted so much that offense, a great offense, wins Super Bowls in today's NFL?
